Classmancers - A MOBA Esport Story - Part 3

Vol.17 Ch.5: The Pressure of Subbing In

The drafting phase came to an end. This signaled the start of the 4th game of the day, as well as Stratus' last chance to convince the Leopards to bring out their Korean player.

Their lineup is largely unchanged. Yuel analyzed the enemy's picks.

Once again, the Bot duo went with Seraph and Cryomancer. Those two gave Yuel and Lars some trouble last game, but unfortunately, Yuel didn't get around to banning them. There were other important bans he had to attend to first, like banning Sage for Mid.

Sage was one of the best defensive classes, so Yuel hoped to make it a little easier for Kai in Mid by removing Sage from the table. Alas, this move wasn't very effective.

With Sage banned, Theorist simply opted for Aeromancer, yet another strong defensive class. Its range wasn't as long as Sage's, but it had more than enough ways to farm minions from a safe distance. In short, it was another Mid class that fit Theorist's defensive playstyle like a glove.

Meanwhile, Kai picked Sorcerer again at Yuel's request. It was a steal-pick that prevented Theorist from taking the class for herself. But ultimately. the effectiveness of this decision proved to be questionable at best.

In the end, Theorist still got herself a very defensive class, and Kai also has a class that leans more toward defense. Yuel frowned. This isn't exactly an optimal setup for starting any attacks in Mid. Sigh.

It seemed that, once again, Kai will not get to play a key role in the team's offense. Not only was she burdened by her "Softhearted Amazon" syndrome, but even her class favored defense over offense.

Though, maybe that's for the better. Yuel tried to convince himself. If she's not in the mood to attack anyway, then might as well pick something that'll fortify her defense.

That was the line of reasoning that led him toward making Kai pick a class like Sorcerer despite the disadvantages. Even if it failed to stop Theorist from picking a defensive class, at least it reinforced the team's defense in Mid.

Nonetheless, this put the entire team's offense potential in an awkward spot.

Ben won't go on the offensive either because that's just not his playstyle. Yuel thought. So, that's why I had to go for such an extreme pick for myself.

Indeed, his pick was a tad peculiar for a Support. It was definitely viable enough, as proven by its occasional usage on the competitive scene, but it was very irregular and niche.

Warlock had many strong tools as a Mid Laner, but it also had very decent supporting tools as well. Some of its Invocations boosted damage, but others provided utility such as defense shredding and silencing.

And of course, there was also Warlock's infamous ultimate. It was the very reason why many regarded Warlock as a brain-dead "click-to-win" class. And indeed, it was one of the strongest and most versatile ults in the entire game.

Not to mention, this ult doubled as another source of "stealth", which could really help a certain phantom they had on the team.

Nia can usually sneak around unnoticed by her own power, but that's mostly in Ranked or against weaker opponents. Yuel thought. So far, she hasn't brought any notable results against the more troublesome opponents, like Taurus' Triangle and the Leopards.

Was her stealth ineffective against high-caliber players? Or, did these specific games simply have bad circumstances for her?

Either way, I can't rely on her to enable the entire team's offense. Lars and I have to press offense harder this time around.